By Lenny Traube

"THE FINEST NEW MUSICAL TO ARRIVE IN NEW YORK THIS YEAR!" So says nytheatre.com on the Internet. Not the greatest praise of all time from a major source, but enough of an encomium to inspire me to trek down to Christopher Street in the Village to catch "Stars In Your Eyes" at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Surprisingly this first musical by triple-threat writer Chip Meyrelles (author of the libretto, music and lyrics) is not a bad show at all; in fact, according to Daily Variety’s Charles Isherwood, "it is in many ways a welcome antidote to the noisy incoherence of the recently opened ‘Saturday Night Fever’ on Broadway."

Set in 1962, the story features the lovely, shapely and vocally gifted Crista Moore (star of the Broadway revival of "Gypsy") as a snooty millionairess who wears a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat through most of the first act. Although the period is that of the JFK assassination, Sputnik and the Cuban Missile Crisis, such dour events are mentioned only in passing in the dialogue and plot, which deals primarily with the efforts of high school science teacher Reginald Barclay (David Lutken) to save the local planetarium from the wrecking ball. Playing the Man in the Moon, who serves as narrator of the events, is a personable and charming black entertainer, James Stovall, who comes across as strongly as Ben Vereen did years ago in "Pippin." Writer Meyrelles is most proficient as a composer; in fact, Daily Variety declares "He’s filled his musical, with rich, soaring melodies." Can he be compared to composer lyricist Stephen Sondheim? Well, Meyrelles’ tunes, and rhythms had my toes tapping in my seat during the show, and I was humming the musical phrases as I walked out. I’ve never done that for Sondheim.

BEAUTIFUL MERYL STREEP MUSIC IN "MUSIC OF THE HEART": Yes, the Academy Award winning actress notches an uplifting experience for movie goers in the joyous "Music of the Heart," in which she gives another brilliant performance as a dedicated violin teacher in an East Harlem (inner city) public school. Derived from the real-life story of Roberta Guaspari, who saved her music program from Board of Education economy cuts with a concert at Carnegie Hall, this stunning movie should continue on for months at the United Artist Bayside Quad, where it was unveiled this past weekend. Directed by horror-meister Wes Craven of "Scream" fame, the movie shows this is a director who can uplift you as well as scare you. Helping make a success of the climactic benefit concert at Carnegie Hall are famed virtuoso violinists Arnold Steinhardt, Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman, appearing as themselves in the film’s great final sequence. Fans of Angela Bassett will want to know the gorgeous black woman gives a gripping performance as the school’s principal, who at first is opposed to what teacher Streep is trying to do and ends by giving her unqualified support. For Streep it’s a film that has to get her another Oscar nomination.

NOT OF OSCAR CALIBER, but a sure-fire crowd pleaser is"Bringing Out The Dead" with Nicholas Cage and Patricia Arquette, playing for the past several weeks to appreciative full houses at the College Point Multiplex in Whitestone. With Martin Scorsese as director, this saga about the tough life of New York City ambulance drivers is both riveting and at times very funny.

AN AGATHA CHRISTIE REVIVAL? Why not, considering the constant big Broadway revivals of the plays of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. from Jimmy Polimenakos of Uncle George’s in Astoria my prime source for great Greek food and Broadway theater gossip, I hear Christie’s 1943 play "And Then There Were None" is scheduled for resuscitation after Y2K. Jimmy, who attended a recent reading for backers at the Roundabout Studio, tells me a new ending for the play is in the offing, which will require the blessing of the Christie estate. Seems the play and the 1939 novel each had a different ending.

Christie died in 1976 without disclosing which ending she preferred.